Looking for friends with 1200 calories

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  • sweetums85
    sweetums85 Posts: 23 Member
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    i was on 1200 but because i excercise 5 times a week its changed my goals but i am still trying to work between them both in order for results
  • Soniatori
    Soniatori Posts: 4 Member
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    on weekdays i stay at 1200. i eat around 300 per meal and use the rest for snacks(yogurt,skinnycow ice cream) and on the weekends i'll have around 1350 so i wont go crazy ; )
  • alybrey
    alybrey Posts: 1
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    My best advice is to keep your foods simple. I eat all day. I have breakfast, a mid morning snack, lunch, 2 mid afternoon snacks
    (my husband doesn't get home for dinner until 6:30 or 6:45 so there's a large time span between lunch and dinner) dinner and a small evening snack. By using this program, I have learned to literally change my eating habits and seek out low calorie meals and snacks. Breakfast is generally a bowl of Cheerios or oatmeal. Mid morning snack is a 100 calorie pack of Hostess crumb cakes. Lunch is either tuna plain with a hardboiled egg white on a half of a Thomas's flat everything bagel, or 2 eggs with the Thomas's which is spread with laughing cow herb lowfat cheese spread. (one wedge). Afternoon snack is 2 stalks of celery with a small amount of peanut butter, or a different flavor of laughing cow ( I love this stuff lol! It's one of the best "cheat" foods ever!) or if I want something sweet I will have a banana with no sugar chocolate sauce on it. Later if I need something else before dinner I will grab about 4 or 5 no salt almonds. Dinner can be grilled chicken breasts or some type of protein I have fixed in the crockpot along with a vegetable and generally some type of potatoes (my husband can't do without them and I think they get a bum rap myself) Evening snack if I need it is a cup of popcorn. It's all in how you prepare your foods also. Skip the fatty fixins and season things more. There's not much if any calories in Ms. Dash any flavor. I use lots of fresh garlic also. Keep your sodium at bay. Sodium is one of the biggest pitfalls I think in American eating. It's in everything you eat at a restaurant (and tons of it I might add) It's in every processed food you buy, so you have to watch the sodium content on everything you buy. Drink water if you don't normally.

    Another thing that is crucial is exercise. I run Mon-Fri 35 min, and lift weights 3 days a week, and floor exercises the other 2. I do not work out on the weekends. Your body needs time to rest. This exercise, or any exercise will increase your calorie intake somewhat within this program. If your not very active now, it will take some time to adjust to an exercise routine of some type, but everything you do along those lines will help boost your metabolism. Find what works best for you.

    On the weekends, because i don't exercise, and we go out to eat for Saturday and get take out for Sunday, I always go over my 1200, but not by much. Make smarter decisions in what you order by plugging the foods you want into your fitness pal program (if you have it on your phone) and if it's crazy bad for you, choose something that's not. I get a lot of grilled chicken salads with balsamic vinegarette dressing. Get grilled instead of fried. Chicken and seafood instead of beef. I don't sweat this so much though because during the week, i seem to have it down to a science for myself and stick to the calorie count or actually below it those 5 days a week.

    I've been on this program for 2 weeks and have lost 3 pounds so far. It's all about moderation (when I run, I don't go out for a marathon, or worry about how fast. It's really about a moderate jog type of thing.) If you want a cookie, eat a cookie but make yourself eat only that one. (I still have a mini chocolate donut or two a day, but I stop there.) Don't cut out any certain food group, just cut back on the bad stuff and exchange it for different better for you foods slowly. Eat very small amounts of the bad stuff. The only thing I will tell you not to have for a very long time until you get close to your goal is chips of any kind, and even after that, keep them out of the house. I have had a wonderful love affair with tortillas and cheese dip, lol, but I wouldn't go there now if you paid me to.

    This program on my fitness pal has really helped me truly see what I used to eat compared to how I should eat, yet still enjoy eating. Also, by not eating those chips in the afternoon, I'm not ever tired and slothy like I used to be. I love to use this program all day. By plugging everything in, it makes me want to make the right choices by staying on track.

    Look around online for different low calorie snack ideas. Things that you like to eat. Meal ideas that will keep you under 300 calories per, yet has flavor. Lowfat Yogurt, low calorie snack puddings. I'm not very good at eating totally clean. I can't do all veggies all of the time (too much gas and for me thats boring eating) and I don't like a lot of fruits, but occasionally, I will have one of those small single servings fruit cocktail for my snack, or an apple. But maybe for you, veggies and fruits are a great way to eat. If so, you are lucky :)

    Sorry, I know this was alot more info than you probably wanted to read, (I could go on forever!) but I do hope I have given you some ideas to help you get started. The thing is, I bet even if you go over your calorie intake a little every day, it's probably a lot less calories than you would have taken in if you weren't working with this program. Don't sweat it.
  • marianne_s
    marianne_s Posts: 986 Member
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    Feel free to add me - I'm vertically-challenged and so I'm set at 1200/day, and need to exercise on top of that to lose. If you stick to lots of fresh veggies and fruits, and lean proteins, with a few treats thrown in (I love my Skinny Cow ice cream dessert every day) it's actually pretty easy to stay close to 1200. But you really have to avoid junk.


    Actually, you don't need to exercise on top of your calorie allowance to lose.
    The Goals page actually states this - *Net calories consumed = total calories consumed - exercise calories burned. So the more you exercise, the more you can eat!


    Why.....How is this possible? You're probably asking...
    It's possible because MFP has already calculated a calorie deficit for you BEFORE you even exercise. So, if you eat the daily amount of calories without exercising, you will STILL lose weight.

    DEFICIT is the amount lower than your Total Daily Maintenance Calories (the amount of calories you need to eat to stay at the same weight

    Based on the weekly loss amount you chose, then MFP would've deducted one of the amounts below from your daily maintenance calories.

    Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week loss) deficit
    With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week loss)
    With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week loss)
    With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week loss)



    I hope this helps someone understand MFP better.....
  • 2littlebostons
    2littlebostons Posts: 24 Member
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    My goal is higher, but I find the opposite problem , I have more trouble eating at least 1200.
    Since I changed my habits when it comes to food, I find myself full far before I get close to the 1200 calorie mark.

    I have the same issue, some days.
    I have a goal of 1200 calories, but I'm usually only eating between 900-1100. I just can't win! LOL!
  • 2littlebostons
    2littlebostons Posts: 24 Member
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    I think I am going to have trouble eating only 1200 calories in one day....thought I would ask some of you for help and see how you make it work!

    Thanks!

    : )

    I added you. :)
  • AwesomeSauce4
    AwesomeSauce4 Posts: 1,062 Member
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    I eat 1200 calories a day and have had great results:wink:
    feel free to add me if you like as a friend:smile:

    ~Rachel~
  • penmillion
    penmillion Posts: 29 Member
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    My food diary is open for whoever wants to peek. I'm not really proud of all my food choices but am hoping to clean it up gradually. I like to have an occasional beer (especially if there's a new episode of Supernatural). Today I had steak & mashed potatoes, some chocolate, whole milk & still kept it at 1205 cals. I"m 5'2", and I don't exercise as much as I want to but on the days I do exercise I eat back my exercise calories so I get ~1400cals. I am only strict with the calories M-F and the weekends are kind of practice for maintenance mode.
  • jambs5
    jambs5 Posts: 114
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    My calories are 1200 a day as well. If you do your cardio workouts/exercise you burn off the calories you eat and can eat more. Whenever I add my food and see the calories, I say to myself I better do some cardio to burn them off. Please feel free to add me as a friend. The more encouragement/support, the better. Anybody need friends, add me.
  • julsofdenial
    julsofdenial Posts: 225 Member
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    I am set at 1200 and have been for about 9 weeks i think.
    Anyone/everyone is welcome to add me, my diary os open. Excuse this past weekend though as i did go over! :)
  • deejay62
    deejay62 Posts: 1
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    I just started 2 days ago! So far so good. 1200 calories isn't much, but I am finding food that is lower in calories. Need to get off prepared foods. I am having trouble with sodium and prepared foods are loaded! I have to do this!:bigsmile:
  • brittbrat892
    brittbrat892 Posts: 46 Member
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    Im pretty sure mine is set at 1250. Its hard but I motivate myself to workout because then I get more calories added to my plate! plus drinking a lot of cold water helps with not being hungry. Veggies are also low on calories so if you add more veggies it'll take longer to get to ur calorie goal! feel free to add me!
  • claudiandw
    claudiandw Posts: 184 Member
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    My calories are 1200 also and it is plenty and even better when you exercise. I usually have a bowl of cereal (Honey Bunches of Oats only 120 calories for 3/4 cup) and a cup of Plantation Mint Green Tea (0 calories) for breakfast. I don't eat lunch, so I usually have some watermelon or a granola bar for a snack. And there are always plenty of calories left for supper. We bicycle at least 5 to 8 miles 4 times a week and walk on the other days. Riding a bicycle really burns up calories quick. You can add me as a friend if you want. :smile:
  • MarthaVictoria
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    Hello everyone,

    I need to stick to 1200 calories and I find it TOO DIFICULT TO DO… PLEASE HELP ME!!! I am a food lover, there is nothing I love more than eating for the pleasure of eating. My nice good quality food, my nice red wine and the excellent desert with a cappuccino or espresso coffee its all I need to forget my diet… Well not really, I just need to walk by something attractive and that’s it… Since I was a child I was very food motivated. I was born in Cuba and lived there until I was 27 years old. All my life I was deprived of the variety of food we have here in Canada. My family was very poor and our diet was mostly based on carbohydrates because protein was too expensive. As a child I always had my iron and haemoglobin levels low due to the lack of proteins and several times had to take supplements. In 1989, after the Soviet Union collapsed, Cuba went to a DEEP economic crisis. I was only 18 years old starting University and around 5.3” tall and 130 pounds. By the end of 1991 the country had used all of the food reserves. Cuba was mostly dedicated to sugar cane plantations so there was not much agriculture to begin with (and not tourism yet, it came up later). Between the USA embargo, the remaining of a communist country, and the Cuban government without a good economic infrastructure in place, we had the perfect recipe for starvation. There was pretty much nothing to eat, plus the industries went off, there was no gas, no oil, no power, no fertilizer for the soils, and what’s worse, the government was not ready for this huge collapse so there was no plan in place or money to import anything. Food became an obsession in almost everyone. I was always incline to this kind of addiction so… it very quickly became my main goal in life “TO EAT”. In 1993, our university had no supplies at all other than rice and sugar. For around 6 months we eat nothing else but a glass of water with sugar for breakfast and a cup of rice with a table spoon of sugar for lunch and dinner. I can’t say how many times I went to bed hungry, feeling this deep pain in my stomach, it was better to fall sleep so I didn’t feel it anymore… If there was electrical power at school they will cook a rice soup (water, rice and salt only), and a rice dissert (rice and sugar only) plus the usual cup of rice. Even finding a lemon to make lemonade was almost impossible. I eat so much rice and sugar that soon I was around 160 pounds. Slowly people started growing anything and everywhere. You will see every single piece of land converted into a vegetable garden, people will eat them even before they were fully ready plus there was no fertilizers so they didn’t grow much anyway… Then tourism came up and slowly things got better to some rice and beans and maybe protein once a week. In 2000 my husband got a job contract to come to Canada and I came with him. Just before coming here I could think about nothing else but all the food I was going to eat. I was still 5.3” tall and about 160 pounds. The very first week in Canada I didn’t drink water at all, only coke, and after 7 days I ended with a bladder infection. Now I don’t drink coke anymore :-) … I was so hungry and food obsessed I was getting up in the middle of the night to eat ice-cream. I was not sure how long we could stay here in Canada so I just wanted to make sure I eat everything I never had in my whole life before I returned back to Cuba. In less than 4 months I gained 40 pounds. Eventually we became Canadians and stayed here, one of the best things that ever happen to me, but with that it also came my overweight. When I compare myself with my family and friends that still live in Cuba, I feel so much lucky because I have all the food I want (and life opportunities) while they still think about food all day long… When I go back to visit them, I am not fat, I am lucky :-). Everyone thinks I have a great life because I am so fat (of course food for them means rich….) Dieting becomes even harder with all these memories.. Here in Canada I went back to school and took a college program in Computer Science. The program was very difficult. Even though I was never a fast food person (not such a thing in Cuba) I eat a lot of junk during the school years because I was always studying or doing assignments. I got pretty well educated and now have a nice job that can pay pretty much for all the food I want in the planet :-) LOL … So I hope never to be hungry again.. BUT… obviously now I want to lose some weight. I have done weight watchers but don’t like their meetings or counting points system. I have a gym memberships, I exercise and then I eat so it doesn’t do much by itself… I have taken several one on one sessions with an excellent nutritionist, I learned a lot about north American foods and changed by food habits to a much healthier style. I read a number of good nutrition books, got very well educated and I can tell you I pretty much know what to do and how to do it. I even got some counselling sessions and emotionally I am not so much food obsessed anymore. Now I ate more high quality food, love my red wine and fine cousin but hate portion control. I haven’t gained any more weight in a very long time, I just keep being fat. After all, its very easy to keep it on right? :-)… Every time my stomach tells me that he is hungry or I see something nice I haven’t tried before, I just want to eat it. My brain impulse to put the food in my mouth is faster than my self control and when I realized I just eat it… Today, I am 38 years old, still 5.3” tall of course (Canadian food helped me grow horizontal not vertical :-))… and 235 pounds, but now I am facing heath limitations. My husband and I are trying to have a baby and after years of fertility treatments the doctors pretty much see no other options but IVF for which I MUST be at least 40 pounds thinner or they won’t do it. Everything else is good, I am still lucky enough to be healthy, but overweight… SO…. I am not getting any younger, if I want to have a child it must be NOW… and to do so I need to lose the stupid weight SOON… I joined this site but find it TOO HARD to achieve my daily calories goal of 1200. A normal day for me goes between 1800 to 2400 calories. PLEASE give me some ideas as what so I can stick to 1200 calories without staying hungry all day long which will definitely discourage me and make me quite once more.

    Thank you so much for reading my story. Please add me as your friend if you feel like you can provide me with some ideas and support.
  • mjtbb
    mjtbb Posts: 77 Member
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    I'm also on the 1200 calorie. I have been here for almost 3 months and I haven't find it that difficult. I actually like salads but it is not necessarily my main meal. I have to eat the same I cook for my family. With good portion control you will find that 1200 calories is actually not that difficult to achieve. I try to excersise for the days I want a little more but I have other issues that sometimes makes it hard to excersise or to do a lot of it. The key to me was to find a way to still eat the things I like or if not I would never stick with it. Try to fill your refrigerator with veggies and fruits so when you want a snack you have easy pickings of things you like and are good for you. My diary is not exactly the best healthy items all the time but you are welcome to check it out.

    Melanie
  • legacysh
    legacysh Posts: 464
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    Hi,

    I have mine set at 1250. If I let the computer do it, it would be at 1200, but I wanted the cushion. I have been doing this since December and am approaching the 40 pound mark, so feel fairly successful. I have an open diary. I am not a 100% healthy eater. i believe in eating all food types in moderation, and I do go over sometimes and don't beat myself up too much. I do exercise and although I do sometimes eat my exercise calories back, a lot of times I don't. I just had surgery, so I am not exercising much at the moment. Feel free to add me for support if you want. Good luck!
  • jambs5
    jambs5 Posts: 114
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    Feel free to add me, that goes for anybody reading this post. When you burn calories by exercising (cardio) you gain back some calories to use. By doing this I haven't gone over my calories yet & usually have left over earned calories.Good luck!
  • WhisperALullaby
    WhisperALullaby Posts: 67 Member
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    I'm in the same boat over here. Sometimes (especially weekends) it gets a little tight, but I've been trying to be better about it, or exercise more. I never really ate breakfast either, though I've been trying to more often, even if it's something small. At first I was all "OH MY LORD THAT ISN'T ENOUGH" and now I'm often left with some, wondering what I should eat to get up to that number. It's an adjustment to be sure, but it is doable.
  • beffy191
    beffy191 Posts: 71
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    I am also a person who is supposed to have just 1200 calories a day. I find it a bit harder than other people who may have posted on here, so some days I do actually end up around 1300 calories but I think that is totally okay. I exercise pretty much everyday so going over is a thing that I think is okay.
    I usually have about a 250 breakfast, 400 lunch and maybe around 450 dinner. Then if I need to, I will have snacks during the day and those are usually around 60-100 cal snacks.
  • MarthaVictoria
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    :flowerforyou:
    Thanks Guys, I appreciate all your comments. I will check your open journals and see if I can find some good ideas. I will change my settings as well so you can see mine.

    Thanks,

    Sonmy.